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Star Ocean: The Last Hope

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Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Developer: tri-Ace
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date:

Xbox 360

February 19, 2009 (JP)
February 24, 2009 (NA)
June 5, 2009 (EU)

PlayStation 3

February 9, 2010 (JP)
February 9, 2010 (NA)
February 12, 2010 (EU)

Genre: RPG
Game modes: Single player
Ratings: CERO: Ages 12 and over (B)
ESRB: Teen (T)
PEGI: 12+
OFLC: PG
Platform: XBox 360, PlayStation 3
Media: 3 DVD-DL, Blu-ray Disc  

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (スターオーシャン,Sutā Ōshan) is the fourth installment of the Star Ocean main series for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The battle system features four party members, which can be switched around, and is more team-oriented than past games. The hero's name is Edge Maverick, and the heroine is named Reimi Saionji. The game features more of a sci-fi emphasis than past titles and includes the ability to control your own ship. This ship is quite large, and can land on a number of planets and other space-based destinations. The game takes place a few centuries before the original Star Ocean (around SD 10, or approximately 2087 AD).

An international version of the game has been announced by Square Enix for a worldwide PlayStation 3-exclusive release on February 9, 2010. Officially known as Star Ocean: The Last Hope International, the game will contain both Japanese and English voices as well as new content that will be exclusive to the international version of the game.

Contents

[edit] Story

"AD 2064. Humanity made its third and most costly mistake. World War III. Weapons of mass destruction deployed with complete impunity, razed the land in the blink of an eye. People believed it's the end of the world. The planet Earth was dying. So humanity began to search for a new home in space."

"AD 2074 first contact. SD0001 first warp. SD0010 -- first official SRF mission. The first official SRF mission ventures forth into the great Star Ocean."

It is said that World War III ended in 2064, but the effects of the war remained. When humanity began to search for a new home in space, the USTA was established. In AD 2087, Professor Trillas Bachtein succeeded with his space warp experiments. This was the last day of the AD calendar and first day of the SD calendar. After the success of Professor Trillas Bachtein, the USTA began to secretly implement it's SRF project. In SD 0010, the first official SRF mission began.

[edit] Gameplay

The game will use the same real-time battle system as previous games in the series. There is a new Rush gauge: a feature that allows the play to either have a pre-emptive strike against the enemy or use a certain ability or special attack. Each character will have their own unique Rush gauge status. Another new feature is the Blindside system in which the player can leave an enemy targeting them open to a counter by leaving their line of sight. The latest installment returns to having a four player fighting party. The game also includes real-time character switch, where you can swap a character that is currently fighting for another character which isn't.

[edit] System

[edit] Calnus

A first in the series, the player takes the role of captain of the spacecraft, the SRF-003 Calnus. The ship is one of five assigned to scout new frontiers under the First Expeditionary Batch and authorized by the USTA. Numbered 003, the Calnus contains a flight deck where the player can pilot the ship to various planets throughout the game. Further inside is the spacious recreation room where the player's teammates hang out and the conference room, where the player can gather the crew to come up with new ideas for Item Creation. The crew's quarters are where all the crew sleep and rest during space travel. A battle arena is also available for the player and his teammates to practice combat. The ship is one of the main sources of Private Actions that can occur in the game.

[edit] Item Creation

Commonly known as IC, Item Creation is a tradition throughout the Star Ocean series. The player can create weapons, healing items and accessories for use in the game. Raw items used in IC can commonly be found in shops, while rarer and uncommon types can be found in combat fields. In Star Ocean 4, a new feature called "Recipe Creation Conference" has been added. The player will be able to gather his team members in discussion of creating an item, but the abilities and stats of the final product will vary due to the team members' different personalities and characteristics, specifically their IC skills. This allows the player to experiment, creating the same items with different members each time for desired results. Creation of weapons and accessories can wield out added effects using raw items, for example, the player can create a HP+30% healing item or a weapon with ATK+10% effect. This in turn leads to an enormous amount of variations for the same item. However, creation of items have failure rates and ingredients and supplies will be destroyed in the process. Welch Vineyard returns in this game, in charge of fulfilling IC requests from the player. Besides the usual items the player can build during IC, ship decoration items are also available for creation. These optional items spruce up the Calnus, adding more features such as new furniture, vending machines, a jukebox that plays unlocked tracks of Star Ocean 4 in the game, a biorhythm machine that analyzes the player's and team members' health status, etc.

[edit] Private Action

Commonly known as PA, Private Actions once again returns in Star Ocean 4, where the protagonist Edge Maverick can interact with his team members. By conversing with them during rest after exploration or battle, the player can form a rapport with him/her, which increases the member's affection or respect for the main character. Talking correctly by choosing the right choices and fulfilling the conditions unlock special events or cutscenes between Edge and the team member. The player can also select a team member for roommate, which also builds up rapport and further unlocks more PA events. In battle, a special "Rage" mode can be unlocked if a party member is seriously injured or near death, which angers other members close to them into attacking enemies with much stronger attacks. Finally, PAs pave the way for different cutscenes shown during the ending of the game. A total of about 100 PAs can be achieved in the game.

[edit] Battle

[edit] Rush Mode

The main new feature in battle is the Rush system. Each team member can unleash special or pre-emptive attacks by building up their Rush gauges during normal attacks. Besides returning to 4 party members in battle, new features in Star Ocean 4 such as Jump add different varieties and styles during combat. Blind Sides can let the player evade enemy attacks and dash behind them, inflicting counterattacks from their blind sides. Another new mode is the Real Time Member Change, which allows the player to switch out active members for reserve members during battle.

[edit] BEAT System

Battle Exalted Action Type (BEAT) System allows the player to choose Edge's and active team members' preferred fighting styles, such as offense, defense, sneak attacks, etc. As combat experience increases, the team can achieve higher combat rank statuses, which unlock advanced styles, known as Action Upgrades. BEAT.S is a type of offense fighting style, which is actually a special Blind Sides technique. In effect, the team member forgoes defense and initiates multiple Blind Sides to confuse the enemy, then unleashes a flurry of highly damaging attacks. BEAT.B is a type of defense fighting style, a special Rush mode power play style. The team member fights the enemy directly in front with special attacks. During this time, the member is almost invulnerable to enemy attacks. BEAT.N is a neutral style of fighting as it doesn't upgrade any particular ability, but combines the stat enhancements from the other BEAT styles. This is often used as the default BEAT for a character and the player can change it at will.

[edit] Special Attacks and Symbology

As the player's and team members' levels increases, special attacks for each of them can be unlocked. A variety of long-range, short-range or area attacks can be performed. As level increases, these attacks will get much stronger and damaging. Link Combos can be created by chaining special attacks together, which makes it highly effective during boss battles. All these require MP to perform in battle. Symbology, or also known as Heraldry, allows the usage of magic by inscribing symbols or crests on the body. MP usage differs from each character; a combat-oriented fighter who isn't used to casting magic may lose more MP than an adept Symbology user does. Various symbols have different casting times, depending on the user's stats. Link Combos can also be used when casting Symbology for creating multiple chains of magic attacks.

[edit] Battle Encounter

When players encounter enemies out in the field, three types of encounters will occur:

  • Preemptive Attack - Player runs into enemy from the back. This allows the party to get a free hit before the enemy begins combat.
  • Surprised Attack - Enemy runs into player from behind. Enemies begin combat with partially filled Rush Gauges and there are commonly more enemies present.
  • Ambush Attack - After seemingly defeating all enemies in the encounter, the party immediately runs into another set of enemies in the field. Instead, when the current battle ends, another battle begins, so the party will have to keep defeating enemies till no more encounters in the surrounding area can be achieved. After-battle results are postponed until the last encounter ends. EXP gained and item drop rates increase with each battle in the ambush.

Another feature is the Battle Bonus Board. Whenever the party battles, a bar on the right-hand side of the screen will start accumulating colored jewels. These jewels are rewards for accomplishing various skills, magic, Blindside moves, critical hits, etc, by the player-controlled character in the party. For example, if the player kills an enemy with a critical hit, a blue jewel will be awarded; killing multiple enemies at the same time will net a yellow jewel and so forth. When jewels of the same color are chained, these bonuses will be added to the result at the end of each battle. However, if the player character is interrupted when dealing out a move that will net the party a jewel (such as being injured by a critical hit or the party decides to escape the battle), the chain of colored jewels will break and the party loses the bonus when the battle ends. This is known as Bonus Board Break. However, if there are adjacent jewels of the same color, only half of them will be lost.

  • Blue Jewel - One jewel awards an extra 10% to experience points.
  • Yellow Jewel - One jewel increases the amount of money given by 10%.
  • Pink Jewel - One jewel awards 1% healing point to the party when battle ends.
  • Green Jewel - One jewel nets the party 1 Skill Point (SP), to be used in upgrading character skills

[edit] Gallery

Star Ocean: The Last Hope Japan-NTSC
XBOX 360
February 19th, 2009

Star Ocean: The Last Hope North American-NTSC
XBOX 360
February 24th, 2009

Star Ocean: The Last Hope Europe-PAL
XBOX 360
June 5th, 2009

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